Oui. Grand-père Rome died. Rome was a vast empire that spanned much of the world, but when he could no longer sustain himself, he left the rest of his territories to follow in his footsteps.

The world fell into darkness. Things were forgotten for centuries; mankind regressed into, ah, what they had been over a thousand years before. There was war, attempts to reclaim what had been lost.

An entire population becomes illiterate and destitute, and plagues and disease sweep the continent. If that is not dark...